The present invention relates to a battery and, more particularly, to a battery that is comprised with a plurality of secondary batteries connected with one another, in each of which electrode terminals are extracted from an outer peripheral edge of an outer sheath member.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 09-259859 discloses a technology wherein electrode plates are stacked via separators to form a stack body that is accommodated in an outer sheath member and a plurality of secondary batteries are stacked in a way to allow electrode terminals, connected to the electrode plates, to be extracted from an outer peripheral edge of the outer sheath member whereupon the electrode terminals, extending from the respective secondary batteries, are directly connected to by a connecting method, such as welding, to form a battery with a desired capacity and voltage.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-236937 discloses a technology in which a plurality of secondary batteries are stacked to form a battery stack body and a pair of restriction plates are stacked on the uppermost and lowermost layers of the battery stack body whereupon the restriction plates are connected to one another by connecting rods to allow the plural secondary batteries to be pressed by the restriction plates.